I was reading the book of Exodus last night and I find the relationship between God and the Israelites fascinating. Regardless of all the miraculous signs and great things the Lord did, the Israelites constantly refused to submit themselves to Him fully and treat Him as their King. This Sunday [January 23rd] is Sanctity of Life Sunday- the day set aside to remember the millions of children who have been aborted in the United States since the 1973 Roe vs Wade Supreme Court decision. Much has been said and written about abortion from an American societal perspective, but with this post I want to view a global issue in the abortion conversation. This article discusses a problem China is experiencing. In 1979, in an attempt to curb their rapid population growth, the Chinese government instituted a one-child per family policy. Penalties for not adhering to the law include forced hysterectomies and abortions. More than twenty-five years later, they're experiencing an unexpected backlash: not enough girls. Males are preferred by parents, because it's the son's responsibility to care for elderly parents. If a family has a daughter, her parents are left with no one to look after them in their latter years. So as a way of insuring social security, if a couple discovers via an ultrasound that their one allotted child is female, they abort and try again to get a male. These boys are now growing up to find no wives are available for them. Currently, for every 100 births in China, there are about twenty more boys born than girls. So now the Chinese government is trying to rectify the problem by making it illegal to abort a female fetus. The Chinese people are finding wats around this new law, still trying for boys. China instituted the one-child per family as a way to control the population. Now they're figuring out the hard way that there are always consequences to trying to control the uncontrollable."When does life actually begin?" appears to be the central issue behind the abortion debate. But perhaps everything actually hinges on human arrogance- in people wanting to play the role of God. When we rob God of this ultimate decision making status [deciding who lives and dies], we overstep our bounds. Although there are many issues and subissues in the abortion debate [here's an excellent article on Relevant's website], maybe it all goes back to the book of Exodus: people struggling to accept the Kingship of God. We need to beware of concentrating too much on the fruit and the branches; everything starts in the roots.

Still, it's said that in China, over 2 millions abortions are performed per year. Add to that the 1.2 million abortions performed in the US every year. Then remember that the Holocaust cost the lives of 6 million people.